Idina Menzel with Nico Stai

Best known for her Tony-nominated performance in the Broadway smash "Rent", singer Idina Menzel made her solo debut in 1998 with the pop-soul effort "Still I Can't Be Still". In 2003 she joined the cast of "Wicked" and appeared on the cast recording that same year. Then in 2004 she released the album "Here". The year 2005 saw her appear on the soundtrack to the television show Desperate Housewives, plus a duet she had recorded with Ray Charles back in 1998 finally landed on the album Genius & Friends. In 2007 a dance version of Wicked's "Defying Gravity" became Menzel's first club hit. A year later she landed on the major label Warner Bros. and released a new album, "I Stand". ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide